Turntables?

Just going from memory, I know of at least one location, that installed a new turntable ABOVE GROUND at that. The Former Frisco diesel shop complex, in Springfield, MO. had a pretty new turntable, after the BN merger. Turntables take up a LOT LESS land area than a why, especially the newer above ground turntables.

The Cumberland CSX shops have a turntable that is less than two years old.It feeds

some outside service tracks, the light work in what is left of the old roundhouse,

and the heavier repair shop. It replaced the old table that had been there many years.

Ed

Did they install a turntable at the Age of Steam complex in Ohio?

Yep

NS rebuilt the TT at Conway yard.  Apparently it was less expensive than rebuilding the existing facility.  We were told that the TT pit, was also the collection point for excess/spilled oil and fuel and was drained to a treatment plant before discharge to the Ohio River.  It was interesting to see a lot of oil and oil absorbent material every where. 

Click on slideshow upper left control panel.  Should be 68 pictures of the old TT before it was replaced.  

Kerrigan, did you happen to checkout their website? It IS a roundhouse, so……just how would one move a locomotive into each stall WITHOUT a turntable????

Here's the "new" turntable at Cumberland. The amount of engines on and off

the table in a 24 hour period keeps it busy!

 At top is the "heavy work" building, with a large crane and such machinery as a wheel grinder, ect.

The second photo is what is left of the old roundhouse. The two stalls on the right

are used for oil changes, and that type of service, the others for less than heavy work. There are tracks to the right, some service is done there, and engines may wait for their oil changes, ect.

To the left of all that are tracks with engines getting some work, and the into and out of tracks. After work, the engines then move to the "ready track" building, and

checked to make everything is in order for work on the road, they may be washed, sanded and that type service, and the locomotives for a particular train are arranged just outside that building.

On a side note, the new turntable replaced one that was in service for decades,

but sits on the same large granite rock the old one sat upon!

Ed

Very interesting question, with great answers.

Thanks for posting. Greg

From the Age of Steam website.  There are a lot of pictures as construction continued. While the structure is new, with I believe a fair amount of new tooling, an amazing heated floor, that I thought to be unique, wood truss ceiling support, and light fixtures customized to the era, the look is Steam.  IMO.    Spend some time on the website.  Fascinating.  

2012 photo  Rich may have been involved in some of the photography.

 CSX in Russell,Ky just installed a brand new turntable in the old turntable pit location.They set it down in one piece .

This is/was the turntable at Brooklyn Roundhouse in Portland Oregon last year before the removal to storage for re-use at the Oregon Rail Heritage Foundation facility.

We still have the turntable at The former Santa Fe yard here in Amarillo.

When I was a boy Fireman hostling at Los Angeles (Redondo Junction), the coach yard would bring down a few Pullmans for a spin every day.  They were supposed to be coupled with the vestibule ends together to allow the crew to board passengers on two adjacent cars at one location.

I borrowed out to the Gulf Lines (former Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe) in 1971.  I was sent to Galveston, and was pointedly reminded of the fact that the Gulf Lines was the poor relatives of the Eastern, Western, and Coast Lines of the Santa Fe.

At Galveston we did not have a laborer to operate the turntable.  Engine crews coupled an air hose up to the main reservoir hose of the locomotive and turned it themselves with a small air motor powering the turntable.

At Bellville, they had a turntable that was operated by a 1955 Ford truck and a chain.  Yes.  Really.  The old truck chained up to the turntable and moved it in whichever direction was required.  Sometimes it had to be finessed by hand to align it perfectly so that the blocks could be set.

At Sillsbee, they had managed to fit the turntable with a surplus traction motor and had hand-crafted a cab for the turntable operator that had portholes from wrecked F7's for windows.

This old guy recalls the "Armstrong" turntable at Gladstone, NJ.  Before my time it handled mostly 4-4-0's and Ten-Wheelers for the suburban passenger service.  When the line was electrified in 1931 it was kept to turn the 2-8-0 that handled the tri-weekly local freight up until 1953.  Fortunately for me, one of the days it operated was Saturday. 

I would pack a PB&J sandwich and a thermos of milk in my school lunchbox and ride my bike down to the yard.  The freight arrived around 11 AM.  I always marveled at the finesse with which the engineer maneuvered the engine, managing to balance it so precisely that the table's end wheels hardly touched the circular riding rail.  Then two or three crewmen would lean against the angled push beams at either end of the table and it would glide, that's right, glide, around it's circle.  I was allowed to help push half way and then step on the deck for the rest of the trip! A little careful foot braking would slow it at the end of the turn and someone would slip a metal bar in place when the rails came together and that was it. 

The pit was filled in years ago and the location is at the end of a public parking lot.  I drove in there a while back for a looksee.  All that remains is a concrete ash pit now used to store scrap metal.  A local police officer drove in and told me if I wasn't taking a train I had no right to be there.

Kent.. We must be about the same age because your post brought back a few good  memories about the turntable and shop area in our small railroad terminal. I suppose most  small towns  serviced by the railroad had a  table of some sorts... I thinks ours had an electric motor at one time  but also had a drive wheel (no flange) at one end of the table with a piston and controls   driven by the loco's air supply.. The engine could hook up  air on the table or off the table. Just a reg hose bag connection...  I was a little surprised that  turntables are still being used today. Yes...BJ&J still like it.

The SRI turntable at Owosso, MI is worthy of note.  Supposedly it came from the PM at New Buffalo, MI but had some length added to it.  90 feet is long enough to turn an AMC Berkshire with a couple inches to spare.  It is now long enough to turn the 4449.

The Age of Steam turntable came from the WM at Hagerstown, MD and is 115 feet long. 

A big surprise was that the N&W turntable at Williamson, WV, cannot turn a mainline diesel locomotive.  The motor needs rebuilt and rewound.  Right now it can  only handle a small car mover and a freight car.  The two sections of the roundhouse that remain are used as a NS car shop.  The 1950's Lubritorium remains as a car shop building just west of the roundhouse.

Oh yes...check out these aerial shots of the AOSR.

Yes indeed I was "involved." In fact, I took that shot from the right seat of a Cessna 172 orbiting over the site back in April 2012. That shot and MANY MORE are posted on the AOSR Web Site.